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Talk:Sparks Will Fly (1)/@comment-3575890-20140414170255
I don't think there's any other show on the air that represents a wider scope of strong female leads than Game of Thrones. Unlike so many other shows of this genre where the females are typically displayed as subordinate characters and sidelined, stereotyped, and fetishized, GOT has a wide array of female leads on the frontlines ranging across an obtuse spectrum of female roles and behaviors. The women are the stronghold of the show and it's implicit that we are supposed to see them as the ones that have all of the real strength. They're subjected to hardship, limitations, and abuses that the men cannot begin to dream. In the representation of the female characters, importance is placed on various different types of strength rather than just superficial examples of strength in females. What I love about the women of GOT is that they are not collectively reduced to the standardized paradigm of what constitutes a strong heroine. They don't all demonstrate strength and bravery by physically kicking lots of ass like little assassin in-training Arya, Renly's former Kingsguard, Brienne, or the great Khaleesi and Mother of Dragons, Dany, even though all three are excellently crafted heroines that subvert the trope. They're used to represent varied aspects of strength. Just a few examples to illustrate this more vividly: There are the women that assert their strength using physical force As well as fantastical Women that have the mental and emotional strength to withstand the severest emotional trauma of daily horrors Women that would kill for their children. Even die for their children Women with exceptional intellectual prowess Women so clever, manipulative, and cunning, they can bend anyone, even a ruthless monarch, to their will Women that grew up independently outside of civilization and were left to their own devices to survive And of course, all of these women are strong in more than just one way. In their shows of strength and courage, they do not embody some fetishized superhuman male fantasy. They are complex, dimensional, realistic, and full of frailty, defect, and weakness. They cry, tremble with pain/fear, brood, self-destruct, break down. Their get thwarted, overpowered, abused, and raped. But they make do with what they have, and use what they can to carry on in the only ways that they are capable within their restricted freedoms. Sansa puts up an illustrious facade of loyalty to her enemies to prevent harm from coming to her. Margaery is a master manipulator that astutely adapts to any role people want her to play in order to gain favor with them, while silently plotting their demise. Cersei lives the role she is assigned, while secretly plotting and scheming her way to the top. And then of course, there are no shortage of female characters that assert their dominance by physically kicking lots of fucking ass. On that token, there is nothing wrong with conventional heroines. Hell, Dany and Arya are very conventionally badass and I fucking love them both. It's the underrepresentation of diverse heroines and the lack of importance put on other testaments of strength (which is why everyone in the fandom is so quick to dismiss Sansa as weak and pathetic, despite that she's one of the most strongest characters on this whole damn show) that is the problem. A strong female heroine is more than just brute strength, sex appeal, and a sharp tongue. GOT women are powerhouses not in the superficial ways that show heroines are typically portrayed, but in the unconventional ways that they harness power. They recognize the strengths in which they excel and use them to the best of their abilities in order to survive in the misogynist world they live in. Every one of them is a skilled survivalist and regardless of whether they ever wield a sword or not, not one of them is weak. All the GOT women are queens not just in the literal sense.